Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

This week also may mark a definitive step towards McCain's defeat. Two Republicans are so disgusted with him that they are running on third party tickets against McCain. Bob Barr, a pretty nuts Republican who does have some reasonable stands against the Patriot Act, is running as a Libertarian this year. Then Alan Keyes, perennial Republican loser, is considering his own third party run. The Republicans are in chaos.

This chaos was also represented by yet another special election loss for Republicans. Since 2005 the majority of special elections for Congressional seats have been won by Democrats. This last week a race for MS-01 Congressional seat was no exception. In this overwhelmingly Republican district the Democratic candidate won by 8 points. This was such a huge defeat for the Republicans that even they couldn't spin it well. Admittedly the Democrat is anti-choice, but he sides with the Democrats on most other issues. One interesting aspect to this race was that the Republicans heavily targeted the Democrat by trying to link him to Obama. This link was false, but basically they were trying to use Obama to defeat a Democrat in the heart of Mississippi. And it didn't work. Obama was not a negative factor in the race at all.

As long as the Democrats don't seriously fumble, it looks like this country will be a whole lot better off come 1-20-09.

Here is this week's newsletter:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

THE MOST CORRUPT POLITICIAN IN AMERICA: Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens

CORRUPTION IN COLORADO: Corrupt Republican Bob Schaffer

WINNING LOCALLY: FOUR Women in Wisconsin

ALASKA FOCUS: Diane Benson, Veterans for Peace, Groups and Events

WISCONSIN FOCUS: Progressive Candidates, Groups and Events

NEW YORK STATE FOCUS: Progressive Candidates, Peace Vigils, Groups and Events

CALIFORIA FOCUS: Progressive Candidates, Alternative Energy, Groups and Events

NEW JERSEY FOCUS: Blue Jersey Radio, Impeachment, Groups and Events

FLORIDA FOCUS: Christine Jennings, Joe Garcia, Groups and Events

VIRGINIA FOCUS: Tom Perriello, Impeachment, Groups and Events

GEORGIA FOCUS: Veterans for Peace, Groups and Events

NORTH CAROLINA FOCUS: Larry Kissell, Veterans for Peace, Groups and Events

MICHIGAN FOCUS: Mark Schauer, Groups and Events

TEXAS FOCUS: Rick Noriega, Alternative Energy, Groups and Events

ILLINOIS FOCUS: Peace Vigils, Alternative Energy, Groups and Events

PENNSYLVANIA FOCUS: Progressive Candidates, Groups and Events

ARIZONA FOCUS: Progressive Candidates, Groups and Events

IOWA FOCUS: Sustainable Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Groups and Events

OREGON FOCUS: Neighborhood Leaders, Groups and Events

OHIO FOCUS: Progressive Candidates, Groups and Events